Joe Ferraro

Ricardo Mayorga.

This weekend, two events taking place south of the border will have various bouts whose results will have interesting implications for not only the subjective world of MMA rankings, but also for the sport in general.

First off is Strikeforce's Heavy Artillery show, featuring heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem defending his title for the first time in over two years, vs. Brett Rogers, who is coming off a loss to Fedor Emelianenko.

Overeem, who has spent the better part of the past 24 months fighting on the K-1 circuit, as well as getting in seven MMA bouts, fighting in Japan as well as his homeland of The Netherlands. "The Reem" is the best striker in the heavyweight division, one who I personally believe is a notch above the likes of UFC sensation Junior Dos Santos and the power punching Shane Carwin. Alistair has competed with the world's best strikers via K-1 and has held his own.

While Rogers is a banger, I don't believe he has the skills to knock Overeem out.

But don't tell that to Sportnet's Tyler "The Interm," who joined me on this week's broadcast of The Showdown on The Fan 590. Tyler firmly believes, along with one of our callers, that Rogers will shock everyone, and walk away the new Strikeforce champ.

Should Overeem emerge victorious, it should set up a pay-per-view showdown with Emelianenko, but whether this fight ever materializes remains to be seen. "The Last Emperor's" handlers continue to protect the consensus No. 1 heavyweight, and as time goes on, their client is getting older, which will make it much easier for the "small" heavyweight to fall prey to the new generation of monsters in the division: The Lesnars, Carwins, and Overeems, who are massive beasts with skill.

With Fedor's bout vs. Fabricio Werdum now official, I will not be surprised if "Vai Cavalo" defeats the Russian legend.

Pointing Fingers

One of the side stories that has been hovering over the Strikeforce event surrounds the drug testing the organization will be implementing, stemming from the media scrutiny that has been aimed towards Overeem, who used to be a stealth light-heavyweight, but ballooned to a heavyweight a few years back. Finger pointing aside, I'm a firm believer of "innocent until proven guilty," even though the visual evidence would suggest otherwise.

Yes, call me a fool, but until he tests negative, I will not say otherwise. In this day and age, athletes in all sports will generally be leaps and bounds ahead of most of the drug testing that commissions use anyway, but if you really want to dive deep into this story, may I suggest reading Fight Opinion's Zach Arnold's story here -- he does a great job analyzing this whole predicament.

See the full fight card here.

Shine Fights: Worlds Collide

The other event that is picking up steam this weekend is Shine Fights: Worlds Collide, which will see a 160-pound catchweight bout between UFC veteran Din Thomas and former boxing champion Ricardo Mayorga. The latter has been dealing with his boxing promoter Don King, filing an injunction to prevent this bout from happening, citing his client is breaching an existing promotional contract.

Regardless, if this fight does take place, it will be another example of the "Boxing vs. MMA" matchup, and who is better suited under what medium. The answer is generally simple: Boxers will defeat MMA fighters under the rules of the Sweet Science, while the opposite is true under the Unified Rules of MMA. A boxer's one-dimensional arsenal should technically be no match for any legit mixed martial artist, but, with four-ounce gloves, one landed punch can spell doom for anyone.

In this example, Din Thomas has good striking for MMA, but is nowhere near Mayorga's specialty. If Thomas chooses to stand with Ricardo, it may be a short night for the Florida native. If he takes Mayorga out of his element, he should easily win this fight on the ground.

This is a pre-cursor to the tentative bout between Randy Couture and James Toney, set for UFC 118, August 28, in Boston. I spoke with Couture at length about this bout, and it's safe to say he will not be taking any chances vs. "Lights Out." But again, and I stress, everything changes when a boxer of Toney's calibre lands one punch. It's not the same as a punch from an MMA fighter, Shane Carwin included.

If Toney lands, and wins, one can just imagine how our boxing brethren will rejoice in the victory. I, for one, am already fielding some excellent debate from my own circle of friends about the bout. I can't wait for it to happen.

See the full fight card here.

And it goes without saying: The UFC will be counter-programming these events with a two-and-a-half-hour presentation of "UFC: Ultimate Fights", starting at 10 p.m. ET.

Misc. MMA Notes:

-- Bobby Lashley's next opponent is rumoured to be the 6-foot-5, 285-pound undefeated Ron "The Monster" Sparks (5-0) on the undercard of Strikeforce's June 16th show, in Los Angeles, California.

-- Congrats to UFC Middleweight Michael Bisping, who tweeted his wife gave birth to a "lump," a healthy nine pounds baby boy. "The Count" will fight next at UFC 114, Saturday May 28th vs Dan Miller.

-- MMAjunkie.com is reporting that WEC 50 will take place August 18, at The Palms in Las Vegas

-- "MMA Day", a rally that will take place at Queen's Park in Toronto, will bring together Ontario residents who wish to have the sport regulated in their province. Come one, come all, and please say "Hi" to yours truly. Come join us on Saturday May 22nd, and let us know you are coming by confirming your attendance on the Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=114793371892846&ref=ss